1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to integrated circuits, and more particularly to a semiconductor having a fuse formed within an integrated circuit.
2. Related Art
To fabricate a semiconductor package, a metallization layer is typically deposited onto a substrate to develop circuitry for a wire bond area on one side and circuitry for a ball attach area on the opposite side of the substrate. Solder masks can be applied to provide mechanical and electrical support, and a via hole or through hole connects the wire bond circuitry to the ball attach circuitry. Semiconductor packages serve as a mounting device for semiconductors. A semiconductor may be referred to as a die, an integrated circuit, or a chip.
Semiconductor packages are actually interposers, which lie between a semiconductor and a larger printed circuit board. The function of the interposers is to serve as a “fan out” for the very high-density electrical inputs and outputs from the semiconductor. The interposer transitions the very high density electrical output from the semiconductor into a less dense output that is suitable for mounting an assembled packaging substrate (i.e., semiconductor package and semiconductor die) to the printed circuit board.
Fuses can be embedded within the logic circuit of a semiconductor to perform a variety of roles. In a high-density, or otherwise highly integrated circuit, several fuses are required to trim, adjust, or calibrate analog circuits in a semiconductor. An example of a highly integrated circuit is 24-port Ethernet device. For a 24-port Ethernet device, twelve fuses are required to trim all twenty-four ports. For a pad-limited design where the number of pads dictates the area of a die, these fuse pads increase the required surface area for the overall chip size.
What is needed is a method for fabricating semiconductors that include one or more fuses without having to grow the overall chip size.